Escape to Compelling, Heart-Racing Stories.
I'm leaving early Saturday for San Francisco, Napa Valley and of course, the Romance Writers of America convention. I'm psyched and ready to go. This Sunday I'll be floating in a hot air ballon over wine country...how cool is that!!!!!!
I'll be gone a week and am not taking my laptop with me so I hope everyone has a good week, stay safe and may no tropical wave turn into another hurricane. :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 7:37 PM 0 comments
When the Oscar buzz began about Heath Ledger's performance, I thought it was one of those sentimental movements. Then I saw 'Dark Knight' over the weekend.
Wow. Heath was mesmerizing as the Joker on screen; he gave a performance of a lifetime. If he is nominated for an Oscar, not only is it well-deserved, but he should win. Amazing performance.
And the action scenes weren't too shabby, either. :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 8:28 PM 0 comments
For me to become a Redskins fan. With the trade of Jason Taylor, there's neither a single player nor coach left that I care about or quite frankly, know their name. If the Dolphins had kept and played Jason, I would have watched the games and gradually gotten to know the players. Not now.
Despite the fact I have always loathe the Cowboys and could care less about their over-hyped quarterback, I'll watch a game here and there because I adore Zach Thomas. Since I have in the past cheered on the Redskins, I can more easily switch my footbally affections to them.
Thumb's down to the Dolphins, and I hope Jason has a stellar sacking year. :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 6:09 PM 2 comments
Once I return from the RWA conference. I finished up tonight and it's beautiful...for now.
A co-worker clued me into this new reality show Greatest American Dog so Maddie and I are spending a quiet moment watching it. When a Shih Tsu was late in obeying a 'sit' command, the woman explained she was a lady. Ha! She didn't obey because she was a Shih Tsu.
But the show's hysterical. I identify completely with the nutty owners. :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 5:21 PM 0 comments
As I near the end of cleaning out the writing room, I'm finding loads of story projects and ideas I've had over the years. And man, all the research I've accumulated. My labeler was burning tonight!
Whether I pick up any of the ideas again, I don't know. I'm trying to keep my mind a clean slate and just let the creative well percolate for a while.
I did dig out a beloved Jayne Ann Krentz book to read again. It's Sharp Edges and has one of my all time fav heroes Cyrus Chandler Colfax. That hunk with his Hawaiian shirts captivated me from the first time I read the book; this may be my fifth read.
I'm starting to get stoked about the RWA San Francisco conference. One never knows who one will run into at these conferences so I want to at least have some game plan in mind.
Now back to the clean-up project. :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 6:38 PM 0 comments
Now that I'm done to the finishing details on the family room [assembling an audio unit, hanging photos, etc], I've tackled reclaiming the writing room. When Maddie came into my life, the cat Stripes hid out in the writing room. Eventually, I gave up trying to go in there because Maddie would raise such a fuss to be allowed in as well.
We had a major break-through in dog-cat relationships a few months ago when Stripes decided to emerge and resume living in the house. I spent Sunday straightening the closet and last night I cleared off the desk... by dumping everything on the floor...
I even found a folder about the single title idea I had a while back. I have several possibilities for the next project and maybe a few more will pop up in San Fran.
:) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 4:30 PM 0 comments
Okay,
Audio cabinet is almost assembled. I'm not putting the door on until my neighbor returns from vacation because...I can't figure out how to re-hook the electronics to the TV. I was soooo careful to tape color post-it's to most of the cords, but I didn't get all of them apparently. Cords may be like rabbits...multiplying when one isn't looking.
But now I'm pondering the mystery of area rugs. A friend said the room needed one to anchor the furniture, but I don't know anything about the rule of thumb of dimensions. Should it big enough that the furniture rests on the edges? Leave a clear space?
It's not anything I've paid attention to on HGTV before so now, unless someone knows here, I'm going to have start catching more shows.
I also hung my Italy photos on one wall. Here's anothe makeover Murphy's law: no matter how carefully you measure, the stupid pictures still move off-kilter after I hammered in the nail. Now I have to do a bit of touch-up paint.
But I love the room!!!! :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 6:48 PM 0 comments
Who are the manufacturers trying to kid when they put the phrase "easy to assemble" on a box?
I needed an audio cabinet to house the TV components, but when I checked out a bunch of stores on Saturday and then the Internet, most were too big, too overwhelming for what I wanted to do with the family room. But on Tuesday, I went into Target and found a simple tower created by Thomasville for Target. Exactly what I'd been looking for even though I raised an eyebrow over the claim about how easy it would be to put together.
Tonight while I've been watching 'So You Think You Can Dance', I've been working on the cabinet for a solid 1 1/2 hours...and I'm only on step 3 with a bizillion more to go. I had to take a break as my hands are cramping from trying to make Phillip screws go into smooth drilled holes. There are no treads so you practically have to pound the screws in.
So what should have been a one-night project looks like it's going to be a two-nighter.
Once more the Murphy's law of home improvement of allowing double, triple, quadruple the suggested time rises again. :) Carol
Posted by Carol Stephenson at 6:36 PM 0 comments
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